New Blog!

Please visit my new blog - Sansri - at http://sansri.weebly.com

~ Santosh

Micro boom

Since last few days it seems like whole universe is conspiring to send me some "micro" messages. I hear nothing but the word "Micro" - micro-credit, micro-finance, micro-insurance. I admit I have of late become overly frenzied with the "micro" phenomenon. Even $ seems to talk of nothing but "micro" after attending some training on micro-inequities; apparently it is some leadership training program where you are made aware of all the negative micro messages that your body keeps sending constantly. I don't know what $ learnt, but definitely she couldn't make out my abysmal interest in her gyan :)

My inquisitiveness for Micro-Finance (MF) was kindled when I first heard about the concept in a marketing seminar organized by Deccan Herald. Of course I had come across Grameen Bank's case study in David Bornstein's much acclaimed "How to change the world". However, it was in the seminar that I became aware of how banking sector in India is trying to tap the poor- what Prof.C.K.Prahalad terms as "Bottom of the pyramid".

BOP segment has long been shunned by the formal financial sector owing to significant challenges such as accessibility and sustainability. However, very few visionary banks in India have been able to weigh the opportunities vis-à-vis the challenges. ICICI is one such domestic private bank that has made headway in serving this much neglected segment. Even International banks like ING and Citigroup have started actively involving themselves in MF through their local subsidiaries.

But why are banks so keen on this market segment? There are two main motives behind this involvement. On one hand, MF can be used by the banks to advance their corporate citizenship policy while on the other it can act as a means to achieve commercial targets. Today, serving the poor is no longer seen as a social obligation but as a financially viable profit making venture.

It is good to know that the formal sector's involvement in MF has lead to substantial increase in the availability of financial products at lower prices for the BOP in India. It is exciting to imagine a future where we could see more small-scale enterprises emerging from people who today comprise the lower end of the market.

Hope our Social Entrepreneurship Group can chip in to this micro boom.

If you are interested in knowing more about MF:
http://www.microfinanceindia.info/conference/View%20all%20the%20conference%20presentations.zip http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2006/03/02/a-billion-to-gain-ing-sponsors-study-on-microfinance http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/~mssriram/jmf.pdf

Is my blog accessible?

I finished reading "The Google Story" couple of days back. Though the book was not very riveting, what captivated and held me till the last page was the subject matter - Google. It seems like I had only a shadowy picture of how the company makes money. Though I have been an aficionado of Google, it was only after comprehending the business model behind this technology & media company that I have developed a high regard for the founders' business acumen.

But, when I became aware of the much prevalent accessibility issues in the Internet arena, my fanaticism "for Google" (although not "to google") has crouched. I'm embittered to know that Google has not made sufficing efforts in making the search engine accessible for the disabled. Little did I know that W3C guidelines exist on how to make web content accessible. More often than not, we are caught unaware that there are certain sections of users, who owing to some disability, may have difficulty reading content, may not be able to use the keyboard or mouse, or may not be able to process certain information types easily. One would certainly be disheartened to see how uphill - and sometimes hardly possible - it is for the blind to understand and navigate web content. Wee-bit efforts from website designers can go a long way in making their websites accessible to those who cannot see, hear or move.

By definition, technology is accessible if it can be used as effectively by people with disabilities as by those without. There are legislations like Section 508 of US and Persons With Disability Act of India that mandate technology accessibility. However given the fact that 99% of the Indian government websites are far from accessible, one can imagine how stringent the law enforcement has been. But a few organizations such as www.disabilityindia.org have made sure that their websites are accessible to one and all. In fact many websites now have resorted to companies such as Net systems solutions (N-Syst) that specialize in Section 508 and assist in conforming to the W3C guidelines. Many of these organizations have even gone as far as to draft disabled users to test their websites thereby generating some employment in this much neglected sector. Even the research shows that testing with disabled users may uncover 45% more accessibility problems than testing with software alone.

That some companies such as Google have not made honest efforts to not deprive the disabled of wealth of information is barefaced. Google technologists have ignored trivial things in their Search and Email tools. I hope the web owners realize that a small effort from their end could help an entire neglected section in their chase of dreams.

What an irony that I became aware of the magnitude of the accessibility issue only after "Googling"!

Noble elites

Over the past few years, I have been very fortuitous to meet a few wonderful people who are very passionate in creating a social change. As I work towards my long term dream of setting up a social enterprise, I know I will have lots to learn from their experiences. I hope I would be able to collaborate with these individuals in one or the other way in my pursuits.

NGO Contacts
Mukta Volunteers
Email: mukta@googlegroups.com
Website: http://www.muktafoundation.org
- Around 20 active volunteers of Mukta Foundation

Ramesh Ramanathan
Email: ramesh@janaagraha.org
Website: http://www.janaagraha.org/
- BITSian
- Founder of Janaagraha
- National Technical Advisor for Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission

Ann
Email: AnnCharity@aol.com
Website: http://www.annfoundation.org/
- Founder CEO of Ann Foundation

N.Krishnaswamy
Email: nkswamy@vsnl.net
Websites: http://www.vidyavrikshah.org/ , http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/
- Chairman, Vidya Vrikshah
- Interested in setting up Disability Resource Centers

Jeba
Email: jeba_com@yahoo.com
- Asha Honor Academy Fellow
- Interested in social change work through education
- He is engaged in 20 projects for children

Prof. Vileen Shah
Email: vileenshah@hotmail.com
- Visually impaired
- Proponent for technology enabled self reliance training for blind students
- Works with NAB

Arindam Banerjee
Email: anandafoundation@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.karmayog.org/paf
- Rajiv Lall’s (Intel colleague) batch mate
- Founder of PURBACHAL ANANDA FOUNDATION

CSR
Sindhu Cauveriappa
Email: sindhu.m.cauveriappa@intel.com
- Intel-ite
- India PR (CSR) head

Mom Banerjee
Email: mom.banerjee@intel.com
- Intel-ite
- Intel Involved India head

Others
Venkatesh
Email: venkat@studiovinyas.com
- Founding member of StudioVinyas
- Into branding
- Creator of Mukta Foundation logo

Ch. Srinivasu
Email: srinivasu.chakravarthula@gmail.com
Website: http:/www.srinivasu.itgo.com, http://www.n-syst.com/
- Visually impaired
- Works for N-Syst as website tester for accessibility
- Interested in making world accessible to the disabled

Akshay Gattani
Email: akshayinbits@yahoo.com
- BITSian (2000 CS)
- Currently pursuing masters in Computer Science in Canada
- Involved with an NPO - Engineers Without Boundary (http://www.ewb.ca/)
- Interested in CSR career

Chandrashekar
Email: shekarnuts@yahoo.com
- BITSian (98B5A3)
- Currently in Boston on some project assignment
- Interested in Social Entrepreneurship career particularly in Micro-Finance
- Interested in mobile commerce applications

Sasi Kanth.C
Email: sasikanth_chemalamudi@yahoo.com
- BITSian (2004 passout)
- Part of a trust and Engineer’s association
- Interested in comprehensive rural development

Venkat Yeluri
Email: venkatbapu@yahoo.com, venkatabapu.yeluri@sbs.ox.ac.uk
- BITSian (96B3A4425)
- Currently pursuing MBA at Oxford
- Has prepared a business plan for Micro-Insurance health scheme in lines of SEWA and Yeshaswini.

The weekend That was That was

"Do you pledge to take these medicines through sickness and health?"
"I do"
"I now pronounce that the virus bequeath you"

I sure don't discern how these doctors can bounce a couple of questions off a sicko's head and be dead sure that he/she has been attacked by a virus. How the hell does this telepathy actually work? Anyways, the news is, I was down last weekend with a supposed viral attack. This is not atypical of me. But, what was offbeat was that my parents were successful this time around in dragging me to a clinic. I must admit I hate visiting a doc for such frivolous cases. More often than not doc knows nothing but to prescribe a unique set of PAVs (Paracetomol-Antibiotics-Vitamin) that would guarantee highest-margins to the near by druggist.

By the way, I managed to complete a significant pending task last Saturday. CSP, who is my unfortunate guarantor, himself diligently, filled up all my applications. We headed to local SBI branch only to witness how customer-friendly our age-old nationalized banks have turned into. The PCs have replaced the once ubiquitous ledger files. But it’s the same old nonsensical & illogical staff, most of them in their late 30s, who act as though as they are paying the customer from their personal money. The local branch manager was no different. Since we did not have an account with the local branch, we didn't even receive those fake smiles.

Anyways, we managed to send the documents unverified. Not sure how many desks my application will have to travel before I get an approval nod. Whatever happens, God save the guarantor!

My "original" Goatee

On the weekend, CSP and I went on to shop for a "Beard Trimmer". As a ritualistic practice, we first headed to a showroom to check the current available array of products. For the benefit of those who are not familiar on how to shop for electronic goods, here's a comprehensive three step process -

1. Make a customary visit to a couple of seemingly customer friendly showrooms to know the MRP (Minimum Rip-off Price) of the product. Don't forget to click a mental picture of how an authentic product and the product manual looks like.

2. Take a stroll in the gray market looking for the same product. You will invariably be shown four seemingly indistinguishable options for each product -
- Original Authentic(OA)
- Original Chinese (OC)
- Original Local (OL)
- Chinese Local(CL)

• Original Authentic is the same as the one in the showroom, except that it is VAT and warranty discounted.
• Original Chinese is designed by the nonpareil Chinese engineers who make desperate efforts to mimic the circuitry. However given the language incompetence, it might so hapen that the engineer would have replaced a NAND gate with an AND gate (presuming it to be a spelling error??). The manuals are a genuine "Common errors in Chinese English" compilation.
• Original Local is the subpar byproduct of the ace B.RE. - Bachelor of Reverse Engineering-Indian brains. I don't know why this over-smart section dismisses the very purpose and existence of some of the inner circuitry. But, the manual would be no doubt mirrored to the last article.
• Chinese Local is again offshoot of Indians dissecting an OC model. More often than not, the product would have lost its primary purpose and sanctity in this version. Ironically these product versions, which cater to the toys-4-kids and wedding-gifts-for-the-loved-ones segments, are the most fast moving ones.

3. Finally, time to play the GMB (Guess the Margin and Bargain) zero-sum game in which surprisingly there has been no record of customer having ever won. Well, at times it makes me wonder how the concept of bargain ever originated. Do we prefer a vendor because he/she is open to bargain? Why do we perceive a fixed-price vendor as stubborn and not customer friendly even though he/she might be offering the best buy in the neighborhood? I guess Consumer psychology should be the most puzzling and farcical subject to research on.

Anyways, back to where I started. CSP and I finally bought a supposedly OA Beard trimmers. CSP did experiment one on me only to find out that he used the trimmer in the reverse direction. I was saddened by the demise of my Goatee. Well, sometimes I guess what matters more than OA, OC, OL or CL is how best you use it :)

Biscuit - "No, thanks"; Idli - "A few more please"

When Mr.PC said "..I propose to adjust the duty rates on clearances by EOUs to the DTA at 25 per cent of basic customs duty plus excise duty on like goods. This will still give the EOU a tariff advantage or, at any rate, in most cases, it will be on par with a DTA unit... " in his Budget-2006 speech, I can imagine a bunch of unschooled faces contesting the who-yawns-the-widest game and another bunch of philistines making their best attempts to wipe of the sleep painted on their faces and wear that M2I(Me-too-Intellectual) look.

I don't know whether the Indian majority did actually laud the budget after having comprehended it in entirety. But I for sure, couldn't have made much sense without the local media. However, of late, the media isn't any less cryptic. For instance, the following budget implications, as interpreted by the media, seem like paradoxes that keep the reader's head spinning -

• Instant food products, ice creams, Idlis and Pasta will be cheaper while cooking oil and biscuits are bound to be costlier. Does that mean that if I had guests at home, I better treat them with MTR instant Puliyogre and Knor Mushroom soup than cook anything myself?
• DVD drives and Flash drives will be cheaper. However, computer and software purchased OTC would be dearer. I'm confused whether, at the end of the day, I would have to shell out more for a fully-loaded PC with authentic softwares.
• Small cars would cost less while withdrawing money from ATMs or using Credit card to pay for the car would cost more. Can someone do the math and tell me how small a car should I buy and what should be the cash to credit ratio so as to take full advantage of the budget?

Well, if it takes a Harvard graduate to come up with such a mind-boggling budget, then I guess we all need an MBA degree to understand whether the budget sounds good for a multi-faceted Indian - a consumer, investor and tax payer. "Mr.PC, just hold on. I shall be back next year with a vengeance". I'm not sure whether I would be able to understand the budget lingo - excise duty, tariff, FBT, EOU - but, I for sure, will not be fooled any worse.

"Why MBA?" - a perennial and pertinent question

Every time I'm cocksure that I need an MBA for blah blah blah reasons, I come across something anomalous that repudiates the need for the degree. As I was performing the ceremonius reading in the morning shuttle, I came across a speech delivered by Steve Jobs - a college drop out - to the topflight Stanford graduating class. It seems that the commencement was the closest he had ever gotten to college graduation :)

Though I'm not an avid subscriber of the inspirational philosophy, some of these quotes really strikes a chord in me -
".. you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."
"..you've got to find what you love..the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it..."
"..if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?...There is no reason not to follow your heart....Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.."
"..don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
"..stay hungry...stay foolish."

I know I need to trust that the coming twelve months will somehow connect in my future and make a difference in my life. Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences ...aha..$. but rather, a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Maybe someday I too would be able to make sense looking backward. But the enduring question is - "Do I have the apetite for the awful-tasting patience?".

(In case you are interested you can read the speech in its entirety at http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html)